That’s the consensus in the Detroit Lions’ locker room as the buzz around town is whether coach Jim Schwartz could lose his job when the season ends, especially if the Lions (7-7) don’t make the playoffs.

The players are only pointing fingers at themselves.

If reporters would quit asking them about it, they’d be all focused on beating the New York Giants on Sunday.

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Reggie Bush, who is not afraid to speak out, reiterated on Wednesday that he feels discipline is an issue in losing four out of the last five. He first said it on a radio show on Tuesday.

By discipline, he means on-the-field actions.

“It’s not a coach’s thing. It’s a players’ thing,’’ Bush said on Wednesday. “We can do a better job all across the board. As far as an offense standpoint, turn the ball over and that’s the discipline issue and that’s something that we have to correct because obviously, as you see, it’ll lose you games.”

Bush has played for a variety of coaches who focus on different areas when it comes to discipline. Dolphins coach Joe Philbin was a stickler on uniforms and wardrobe.

“Coach Schwartz is a disciplinarian,’’ Bush said. “He really focuses on the football field and making sure that we are doing the right thing on the field, especially in practice.”

Hey, it’s not like the players are going to blast a coach during the season. That’s a quick bus ticket out of town and could prevent them from finding another job in the NFL.

However, several Lions were passionate in their sentiments about the issues facing the Lions with two games left and a small chance remaining at the playoffs.

They believe in Schwartz.

“Obviously I don’t want that coach to go anywhere, I love his scheme, the way things go, but I don’t think that has anything to do with right now,’’ Ndamukong Suh said. “What we need to do is focus on getting these next two wins.’’

Suh has played for Schwartz and his staff for fur seasons. Cornerback Rashean Mathis is in his first year in Detroit, but his 10th in the NFL.

“There’s nobody in this world wants better for me than I want myself, and you have to feel like that as a professional athlete,’’ Mathis said. “If you’re looking for a coach to guide you and correct you in each and every given moment you’re in the wrong sport.

“You have to be able to discipline yourself, you have to be able to discipline ourselves, we have to make the plays when the plays are there to be made.

“When we watch film we have to be more critical of ourselves than any coach could,’’ Mathis said. “It’s their job to be critical but as a professional athlete to be at your optimum you have to be more critical of yourself than anyone else.’’

And, like the others, he said the struggles are on the players.

“We as players have to execute. There’s nothing Jim has done to make us lose any ball games, nothing,’’ Mathis said. “to put that on his back. We as players, I’m sure I’m speaking for my locker room, we as players take that burden off his back and shoulder it ourselves.’’

Wide receiver Nate Burleson has been singing the same song for weeks. The losses are due to physical mistakes. It’s not the coaching.

“You look at all the losses we’ve had it’s come down to plays we didn’t make,’’ Burleson said. “It seems like there’s always a point in the game where we had a chance to extend the lead or put ourselves in position to control the rest of the game and we don’t do that.

“You can’t look further than the guys wearing the jerseys, maybe it’s just older guys talking, we want to shoulder the responsibility more than anything I think that’s the best way to look at it anyway, the coward’s way out is trying to point the finger in other directions.

“If anyone wants to give criticism give it to the players not the coaches they don’t suit up,’’ Burleson said. “They make the calls and put us in a position to be successful and we’ve got to capitalize and make those plays happen.’’

Knowing the problem and correcting it are different.

Focus seems to be the missing ingredient. That’s focus for a whole four quarters.

“I’m never going to point the finger to the coaches, maybe that’s me manning up saying, ‘Put it on us, put is on me.’ When you look at the games, look at the losses you can almost always point out a few physical errors we made. ... I’m not going to sit here and say coaching needs to be better or Jim needs to do a better job. Nah, it’s plain and simple, it’s plays we need to make as a team and we haven’t made those plays.’’

About the Author

Paula Pasche is a longtime sports writer for The Oakland Press and blogs at http://oplions.blogspot.com/. Author of book, "100 Things Lions Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die." Follow on Tout and Twitter @paulapasche. Reach the author at paula.pasche@oakpress.com
or follow Paula on Twitter: @PaulaPasche.